Cutting, folding, and collecting mechanism.



PatenteIIJuly 3, 1900.

W. SPALCKIIAVEI'L,

CUTTING, FOLDING, AND COLLECTING MECHANISM.

(Application filed Oct. 7, 1899.)

(NoIAodeL) m: nanms PETERS co. PHOTO-LITNOV. wnsnmo'rou, u c.

UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM SPALCKHAVER, OF NEW YORK,

N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ROBERT HOE,

THEODORE H. MEAD, AND CHARLES W. CARPENTER, OF SAME PLACE.

CUTTING, FOLDING, AND COLLECTING MECHANISM.

SPEOIFICATION forming part of Letters'latent No. 652,817, dated July 3, 1900. Application filed October 7, 1899. Serial No. 732,854. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

- Be it known that 1, WILLIAM SPALCKHA- VER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutting, Folding,and Collecting Mechanisms, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawing, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to certain improvements in the cutting and collecting mechanism of fast rotary printing-machines.

In fast rotary printing-machines as now usually constructed one cylinder of the pair of cutting-cylinders also acts as the collecting-cylinder, the heads of the successive sheets being taken by sheet-taking devices, such as pins, and the sheets being cut off in succession by the cutting agencies carried by the cylinders. While the cutting mechanism is intended to cut only each successive sheet, it has been found in actual practicethat it operates not only to cut a sheetfrom the web which is presented to it for that purpose, but

it also in many instances cuts a slight shav ing or narrow strip from the tail of the preceding sheet which is to be associated with the freshly-cut sheet, this being due either to the fact that the sheet stretches somewhat or becomes in some way displaced. The shavings or thin strips thus out ofl? are exceedingly troublesome to get rid of, and various devices have been resorted to to prevent this second cutting of the sheet. Such devices have, however, been complicated and expensive, have not been adapted for use with fast machinery, and have not always been reliable in operation. I I

It is the object of this invention to so construct cutting, folding, and collecting mechanisms of a fast rotary press as to enable the successive sheets to be collected and at the same time to keep the tail of the sheet from being a second time out or clipped by the action of the cutters in'cutting the succeeding sheet.

With thisand other objects in view-the invention consists in certain constructions and in certain parts, improvements, and combinations, as will be hereinafter described and then pointed out in the claims hereunto appended.

a part of this specification, and in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts, the figure illustrates a form of cutting and folding mechanism embodying the invention.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a folding-cylinder of the ordinary construction,this

form and operated in any well-known manner. In the form of the invention shown the cylinder 1 is provided with two knives 3. The number of knives will, however, be varied according to the product to be formed. These The cylinder isfurther provided with any suitable form of sheet-taking devices. The devices shown are the usual sheet-taking pins, (indicams and spring-rods in the ordinary man ner. tion and operation of the sheet-taking devices have not been fully illustrated.

cylinder 1 is a cutting-cylinder 5, said cylinder being provided with a block 6, having a cutting-groove therein, which groove cooperates insuccession with the knives 3. In this form of the invention this cylinder will be made of a smaller diameter than its companion cylinder, the dimensions shown being as one to four.

In printing-machines as now ordinarily constructed one of the pair of cutting and folding cylinders which have just been described is caused also to act as a collecting-cylinder. The result of this has been that when the first sheet has been taken by the pins on the collecting-cylinder and the pins while carrying this sheet are brought around into position to receive the leading end of the web which is to form a second sheet and a length of web has been superposed on the first sheet the tail of the first sheet becomes so positioned with relation to the cutter that the cutter in cutting off the second sheet also cuts a small trimming or shavingfrom the tail of cylinder being provided with the usual fold- "ing-blades 2, which may be of any desired knives may also be of any usual construction.

oated at 4,) these pins being controlled by Inasmuch, however, as the construcare notmaterial to the invention, said devices.

Coiiperating with the cutting and folding In the accompanying drawing, which forms the first sheet. To avoid this difficulty, there is provided an independent collecting-cylinder which operates to receive the sheet after it is out directly from the cutting-cylinder, the sheets being superposed and collected on this independent cylinder.

In the construction shown the independent collecting-cylinder is indicated at 7, said cylinder being provided with any suitable form of sheet-taking devices, as pins 8. In this form of the invention the cylinder is also provided with a small gap 9, which registers with the knives 3 on the cylinder 1, and thus allows the said knives to pass the cylinder 7. It will be readily seen that by taking the sheet directly away from the cutting and folding cylinders and collecting them on an independent cylinder the cutting and folding cylinders can only operate upon one sheet at a time, and therefore the cutting devices carried by them cannot cut the tail of the preceding sheet.

In the construction shown after a given number of sheets have been collected upon the cylinder 7 they are transferred to the cylinder 1 and folded off by the folding-blades 2 between a pair of rollers 10, which cooperate with the said folding-blades. It will be seen that in this construction the cylinder 7 and pins 8 take and collect all of the given number of sheets which are to be folded together except the last sheet. The last sheet remains on the cylinder 1, and the sheets from the cylinder 7 are transferred onto it, after which all the sheets are folded off together.

11 and 12 indicate any suitable guide-rolls by which the web is presented to the cutting, folding, and collecting mechanism-as, for instance, the draw-off rolls of a longitudinal folder.

Constructions are well known in the art in which a separate associating 1nechanisrnsuch, for instance, as a collecting-cylinderis used with a pair of cutting-cylinders, each sheet after being cut by the cutting-cylinders being carried to the associating mechanism or collecting-cylinder by means of tapes. Such mechanisms are, however, cumbersome and unreliable and are not at all adapted for use in a fast rotary press. By arranging the construction, however, so that the independent collecting-cylinder takes the sheet directly from one of the folding-cylinders the intermediate objectionable tape-pathways are done away with and a mechanism is produced which is verycompact, a most important point in the construction of large fast presses, which can be run at any desired speed, and which is positive and reliable in its operation. Furthermore, if the invention be embodied in constructions similar to those shown in the drawing one of the cutting-cylinders can be made very small and the mechanism as a whole takes up little, if any, more room in the machine-frame than mechanisms in which one of the cutting-cylinders is used as a collecting-cylinder.

Variations may be made in the construction by which the invention is carried into effect. The invention is not, therefore, to be limited to the precise details of construction which have been shown and described.

WVhat is claimed is- 1. In a cutting, folding and collecting mechanism, the combination with a pair of cuttingcylinders, one of which is provided with suitable folding-01f devices, of a collecting-cylinder independent of the cutting-cylinders, means whereby said collecting cylinder is caused to take all the sheets of a number to be collected except the last, and means whereby said sheets are retransferred from the collecting-cylinder to the cutting-cylinder to be folded off therefrom, substantially as described.

2. In a cutting, folding an d collecting mechanism, the combination with a pair of cutting cylinders, one of said cylinders being provided with sheet-taking devices and foldingoif devices, of a collecting-cylinder independent of the cutting-cylinders, said collecting cylinder being provided with sheet-takingdevices, means whereby the sheet-taking devices on the collecting-cylinder are caused'to take all of a number of sheets to be collected except the last, and means whereby said sheets are retransferred from the collectingcylinder to the cutting-cylinder tobe folded oif therefrom, substantially as described.

3. In a cutting, folding and collectingmechanism, the combination with a pair of cuttingcylinders, one of said cylinders having one or more sets of sheet taking and retaining pins and suitable folding-off devices, of an independent collecting-cylinder having sheet taking and retaining pins, means whereby the pins on the collecting-cylinder are caused to take all of a number of sheets to be collected except the last, and means whereby said sheets are retransferred from the collecting-cylinder to the cutting-cylinder to be folded olf therefrom, substantially as described.

4. In a cutting, folding and collecting mechanism, the combination with suitable webguides, of afolding-cylinder 1 having cuttingblades, as 3, sheet-retaining pins 4, and folding-blades 2, a cooperating cutting-cylinder 5 of smaller diameter than the cylinder 1 provided with a cutting-block 6, an independent collecting-cylinder 7 having sheet taking and retaining pins 8 and provided with a gap 9, and means whereby the pins 8 are caused to take all of a number of sheets to be collected except the last from the pins i and after the sheets are collected retransfer them to said pins 4; to be folded off by the folding-blades 2, substantially as described.

5. In a cutting, folding and collecting mechanism, the combination with a pair of cuttingcylinders, one of said cylinders being smaller than the other and the larger cylinder having sheet taking and retaining and folding-off devices, of an independent collecting-cylinder having sheet taking and retaining devices and provided with a gap to permit the cutting de- In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing 10 witnesses.

WILLIAM SPALCKHAVER.

I Witnesses:

F. W. H. CRANE, L. ROEHM. 

